NBA Live 09 Updated Impressions

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DNA mixed with play calling mixed with basketball.

By Nate Ahearn

We've talked previously about how NBA Live 09 is hoping to change the face of basketball with their DNA mechanic, so I won't bore you with those details again. Just recently at EA's Studio Showcase, housed on their Redwood Shores campus, I got an updated look at just how the structure of DNA is going to work into the finer points of gameplay, mainly that of play calling.

Calling plays, something that EA Sports is trying to fine tune so that people -- for the first time -- are incentivized to actually call plays, was on display and looked to be just about finished with pre-season workouts.

In the past, plays have always been labeled abstract names like Jam 213 or Zipper 65. What does that mean? I don't know, you don't know, therefore it was never used. This year play calling is much easier. There's the name of the play and then the player that it highlights. For instance a pick and roll is labeled as Pick and Roll Bryant or an isolation play would be called Isolation James. The Pick and Roll is something that the real NBA makes immense use out of in the real game.

Shoot the J!

Just about every team has a player that they can run a pick and roll with, whether it be Dwight Howard rolling off the pick and cutting into the post or Dirk Nowitski coming off and jacking up a three from the outside. After selecting a given play the person with the ball is shown a target on the court. Move to that target and the person setting the pick will move toward the ball and fulfill his duty.

For complex plays the person calling the shots will need to move to spot on the court, pass the ball, then that player will need to move to a spot and make another pass, all while the rest of your team is carrying out the play as it was drawn up.

The real kicker to all this is that DNA tells the game which player will be highlighted for a given play. Of course, if you want to build up an up and comer you can do that as well by manually selecting a player and making them the star of the designated play.

The mechanic of play calling seemed to work fairly well and certainly offered more options than what we've seen from past iterations. You can cycle beyond the introductory four plays to find some lesser known stars if you'd like. My one gripe with the mechanic was the fact that I had to move to a designated spot on the court to trigger the play to start. Then on the plays when there was more than one spot to cover it felt more like solving a puzzle than playing basketball. Hopefully the development team can tune the mechanic -- as well as the animations, which felt a bit too rigid -- before the game ships.

NBA Live 09 is expected to hit retailers on October 7 here in the States and a bit earlier on October 3 across the pond in Europe.